Suppiah Chettiyar Et Al., V. Samarakoon

1954 Present: Sansoni J.

A. C. SUPPIAH CHETTIYAR et al., Appellants, and S. M. D. B. SAMARAKOON, Respondent

S. C. 117-118-C. R. Kandy, 9,066

Rent Restriction Act-Business premises-" Reasonable requirement " of landlord- Factors for consideration.

Plaintiff was the landlord of the defendants in respect of certain premises. He sought to have them ejected on the ground that he required the premises for his trade and business. The evidence showed that the premises were already being used by the tenants since the year 1938 as the principal place of their chief business of selling sundry goods.

Held, that, when assessing whether the landlord reasonably required the premises, the Court should give due weight to the advantage to the tenant of continuing to occupy the same premises and to the proportionate disadvantage suffered by him by being forced to leave them. The value of a business such as selling sundry goods would depend to a large extent on the length of time that it had been carried on in the same premises.

Held further, that the fact that the plaintiff invested a large sum of money in the purchase of the premises

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